Goodbye Sweet Dexter

Today I am sad. Q-Tip is being treated for an absess in his foot. I thought it wasn't healing and the vet suggested perhaps it was a mass and surgery would be the best option. She also told me the guinea pigs don't do well coming out of surgery and we might lose him while he was under. Feeling like I was trapped between a rock and a hard place, I opted for the surgery. I cuddled Q-Tip last night and gave him some extra love.

I took Q-Tip to the vet and went home to await a call which I believed would be bad news. When I got home, I noticed Dexter's breathing was very laboured. I called the vet and the reciptionist said to bring him in when I came to get Q-Tip as the vet saw noticed improvement in his foot and decided not to operate.

Michelle checked Dex over and told me he had pneumonia. She gave him a shot to try and releave his congestion and put him on meds. She also told me the GP's get this virus and usually pass within the next couple of months never really coming off the meds totally. I was happy to try anything but was sent him with my sickly Dexter knowing the next twenty-four hours were going to tell if he survived. He didn't. He passed about an hour after seeing the vet.

It always seems to work this way for me. When I'm so busy watching out of one thing, something else quietly slips out the back door. Dexter would have been lost without Q-Tip because he cried everytime I took Q out of the cage. Q-Tip doesn't seem to be grieving too much because Dex used to pick on him a bit. I on the other hand, am grieving deeply.

There has been so much loss in my life these past nine month. The size or genus of a creature has little bearing on how much I mourn. I miss my little Dex who gave me so much in the three short years I had of his four year life.

Goodbye Dexter, my sweetie boy.